Only one player from Atlantic Canada (Andrew Case) played professional baseball in North America this year. Here, I am going to discuss a couple of youngsters from the region who we’ll be hearing for years to come.

First, I am going to talk about Jaden Griffin of Lower Sackville. Griffin first came to national attention last year when he played for Team Atlantic at the Tournament 12 in Toronto. Since then, he has played five tours with the National Junior Team. These tours have been against both professional and international competition. The National Junior Team is for players under 18 years of age. Griffin, at just 15, was the youngest player on the 2016 roster. He doesn’t graduate high school until 2018, which is also when he becomes eligible for the MLB Draft. Due to MLB rules, if he goes to college, he won’t turn pro until 2021 or 2022. Griffin was also a member of the Nova Scotia under 15 team this summer and will play in Tournament 12 again this September.

The youngest player on the national women’s team, currently playing at the World Cup in South Korea, is also a Nova Scotian. Katie Hagen, of Dartmouth is also 15 years old. Hagen is the youngest player to ever play for Canada at the senior level, male or female. She pitched in Canada’s 18-4 win over India earlier in the tournament. If this isn’t enough, Hagen is also legally blind as she is one of a few ballplayers who wears glasses while on the field. She was a member of Canada’s gold medal winning women’s under 20 team earlier this summer. Baseball runs in her family, her grandfather John signed with the Cardinals in the 1960’s.

We wish the best of luck to both Jaden and Katie as the pursue their baseball dreams in the future.